She is also prominently featured as a recurring supporting character in the Ninja Gaiden series since its revival in 2004 and has made multiple guest appearances in other games, in particular in the Dynasty Warriors franchise as well as Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water.

Ayane's sex appeal has also received significant praise, though some critics have questioned its appropriateness due to the character's defined age and how her image has been used in advertising and promotional material.

As the series has progressed, attempts by Koei Tecmo to reduce what they feel is her "eye candy" aspect, particularly in regards to the size of her large breasts, have received backlash from fans causing the development teams to voice surprise and reverse such changes.

When developing the Dead or Alive ++ arcade version, as the team had decided to introduce the character Bass Armstrong, Itagaki felt it would be nice to incorporate another ninja into the title, creating Ayane.

In Itagaki's view, both Kasumi and Ayane were representative of "many unhappy women who have been at the mercy of a male society", and felt this aspect to their portrayal gave them some depth and importance.

[1] With Dead or Alive 3, she was given attacks and moves from the Lucha Libre martial art due to the development team wanting to include them somewhere amongst the game's fighting styles.

[12] The sentiment was shared by Koei Tecmo general manager Yosuke Hayashi, who stated that the image of Ayane "fighting while covered in blood symbolizes the intensity and sharpness" of the games.

[17] Due to Ayane's original outfit exposing her shoulders Itagaki gave their animation and movement particular attention, describing the process as "trial and error" and not being satisfied with the results until three days prior to the game's release deadline.

[40] Meanwhile, the survival horror game Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water features Ayane in her own side story mission, which focuses on her trying to find a missing girl.

[41] Ayane's inclusion in the title was at the suggestion of Nintendo,[42] and the developers spent significant time adjusting the character's model particularly the wobble of her breasts, with Team Ninja provided "a lot of advice".

[52] Tomonobu Itagaki later said he "wanted to have Japanese actresses portray Kasumi and Ayane" but the film's director Corey Yuen "believed strongly in his casting choices.

[54] Several figures of Ayane have been released based on her appearances in the Dead or Alive and Ninja Gaiden series by companies such as Kotobukiya,[55][56] Multiverse Studio,[57] Mr Big,[58] Sega,[59] Volks,[60] and Kaiyodo's Revoltech brand.

Gen Gamachi of Inside Games described her "appearance and excellent style" as having "blossomed", feeling both helped make her very popular while also praising her as a "quiet, cool beauty" with a strong sense of responsibility.

[81] The staff of Paragon Publishing's Dreamcast Magazine meanwhile described her as a character "worthy of special attention", calling her equally glamorous as Kasumi and "just as much of an eyeful...if not more so!"

[83] Dengeki Online staff writer "Masked Imaichi" stated that while characters with tsundere or kuudere had become more common in the years since her debut, he felt her persronality was a novel concept at the time, Adding "she was a little tough, but with her cute face, she struck a chord with my heart", he found her even more appealing as the series progressed.

"[85] The staff of Chinese website Sina.com.cn stated that upon debut her "icy demeanor" and purple hair color quickly drew the attention of players and helped make her a popular character.

[5] In early Dead or Alive titles, Ayane was one of three characters whose in-universe age was stated to be under 18, a detail about her and the others Tecmo omitted from Western releases of the games.

[86] However, this caused issues in some countries such as Sweden, particularly in regards to the Nintendo 3DS title of the series, due to allegations of the game portraying underage characters in "pornographic situations".

[85] James Stephanie Sterling in an article for Destructoid addressed the matter in her own commentary, jokingly stating they felt like a "pedophile" when discussing the character and her "huge busters" with a Tecmo rep at E3 regarding Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2.

[22] In an article for GameFront, Sterling further called Ayane's young age coupled with her sexualization an "obsession with youth", a perceived aspect Japan she found particularly disturbing.

Sterling also called out the sixaxis gimmick of moving her breasts with the controller, feeling the way it was advertised encouraged players to "Buy our game, and manipulate the jugs on this big-eyed lump of grade-A jailbait.